By Rita Baldini For centuries, industrial hemp (plant species Cannabis sativa) has been a source of fiber and oilseed manufactured worldwide for a variety of industrial and consumer products. Currently, more than 30 countries cultivate industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity, sold on the market all around the world. However, in the United States,…

Milestone Helps Further Dream Of World With No Homeless Pets Staff Report Spay Arkansas, host of low-cost spay and neuter services, performed its 10,000th surgery Aug. 22. In honor of the milestone, the 10,000th client received a free surgery and gift basket. Spay Arkansas is a non-profit organization founded in 2007 by Marcia Donley, of…

Staff Report A new thriller focused on renewable energy by P.K. Brown has just been released by a Maryland-based publishing company, PublishAmerica, whose owners are “fundamentally opposed to issuing contracts that contain any publishing fees,” and “was founded on the premise that a book is worth publication if there are even the seeds of a…

Special Contribution By Mikel Lolley AEP/SWEPCO is requesting the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC) approve a 345,000 volt transmission line from Benton County to Carroll County, carried atop 180-foot tall towers, requiring a 150-foot wide swath of denuded right-of-way, and cutting right across the most scenic part of the “Natural State.” The cost, about a…

Special Contribution By Gary R. HuxelTransportation is one of the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions on local and regional scales for much of the U.S., Europe and other industrialized areas. Nationwide in the U.S., transportation accounts for 28 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2011, second only to energy production (33 percent) according…

Participate In The Two-Week Program To Win Book, Green Clean Kit By Terrah Baker The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 40 percent of the food produced in America goes to waste. From the fields to the factory, and then the home, food waste is a nationwide problem that they’re now trying to combat with a…

The original list of toxic ingredients found in American foods, and often banned in other countries, can be found in Dr. Jayson Calton and certified nutritionist Mira Calton’s book, Rich Food, Poor Food. It shines a whole new light on what consumers are, well, consuming. For more information on the Calton’s book, visit their website…

Future Legislation Could Curb Impact Of Global Warming On The People By Terrah Baker When climate change begins to take affect, it will be the citizens who feel the hardships, according to scientists. They often don’t specifically mention this, but they don’t have to when they talk about the looming droughts, unpredictable super-storms, and high…

Staff Report Beaver Watershed Alliance (the Alliance) recently completed a series of paddling trips with area youth. The trip was one of four paddling day-trips that the Alliance held, in partnership with Pack Rat Outdoor Center, through the Northwest Arkansas Youth Paddling Days program. This program was funded by a grant received earlier this year…

Staff Report Faulkner County Citizens Advisory Group (FCCAG), whose mission is to promote community health and all-hazard preparedness, is hosting a second interactive Town Hall event to discuss the on-going oil disaster in Mayflower. This date marks the 60-day anniversary of the Pegasus pipeline rupture, May 29. Representatives from Exxon, state and local officials, environmental…